A day without books is like……Just kidding, I have no idea.

Sunday Salon: Three Things, Two About Books, One About Television

I. Game of Thrones: If you cut all the footage of people riding or walking from place to place out of Game of Thrones you could save the audience quite a bit of time, probably eight or nine minutes per hour Not since the late 1970’s when every cop show on the block featured gratuitous footage of the main character’s cool car have I seen more screen time devoted to transportation.

I’ve been watching Game of Thrones–I’m very late to the party–seasons two and three on DVD this week. I find that it’s really a metaphor for cable television. In American, I suspect in most of the world, the cable companies make you pay a single subscription fee for their entire service which means you have to pay for a large number of channels you never watch. On Game of Thrones there are really only a couple of plot lines I care about, honestly just the one with Peter Dinklage, but I have to watch them all. Which is one reason why I don’t subscribe to cable television.

Is there a televsion series that can be viewed as a metaphor for DVD’s?

I’d love it if someone could invent an app that would edit out all of the plot lines I don’t care about. I think a show that was just about Tyrion Lannister would be riviting. I have grown to like the Mother of Dragons plotline and the own with the girl on the run, but the rest of them are boring and the actors basically all look the same so I have trouble telling them apart.

But just about every show I can think of would be better if Peter Dinklage were on it. I’m really just watching Game of Thrones because of him and becuase I’m hoping most of the characters I really hate will be killed at the Red Wedding. Dream big, people.

2. We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves: Last night I started Karen Joy Fowler’s novel which is one of the American upstarts on this year’s Booker Prize longlist. It’s been a long time since I was so completely drawn into a novel. I sat in my leather reading chair reading until just past midnight when I finished the book. While I have a handfull of minor quibbles with it, I loved it. Maybe I could have put it down, but I didn’t. Not until four and a half hours had passed.

3. Sometimes, I still slam my book closed when I finish it because that’s what Harriet the Spy did: It’s true. But it only really works with hardcover books. You can’t slam a paperback. I suppose you could push the off button on your Kindle really hard, but it’s not the same. Slamming a hardcover book closed is very satisfying, and it shocks the dog awake in a very commical way. I read Harriet the Spy when I was in fourth or fifth grade and have never been the same since.

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8 thoughts on “Sunday Salon: Three Things, Two About Books, One About Television”

Harriet the Spy is probably my favorite book from childhood. There was actually a period of time where I read it once a month (fifth grade, I think)… it never had quite the impact on my kids though. I should reread it one of these days. Hope Dakota had a good week.

I am so late to the party of Game of Thrones that I haven’t even seen one moment of the film. Plus , I let so much time slide between the first book and the second that I completely forgot who was who…probably , I’ll have to start over.

Glad to hear about the Fowler book, which I have on hold with the rest of the Booker nominations. Only, how can you read for four hours without falling asleep?!

Finally, of course we slam books closed as Harriet did! And eat tomato sandwiches and run up the stairs and carry notebooks on our routes. Love her.

I say skip Game of Thrones altogether, the books were even slower than the television show is. i think once you get into We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves you’ll see how I could go for four hours.

Just finished reading my 50 classic books yesterday and am beyong happy! Now I can start We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves. I ordered it and it is here just waiting for me. So glad you liked it! Game of Thrones? No thanks. Children’s books that top my list are Stuart Little (E.B. White) and The 13 Clocks ( James Thurber).

LOVE LOVE LOVE Harriet the Spy! You do know it’s out in a 50th anniversary edition? Well worth getting, if only for the appendix, which is filled with a bunch of authors fondly reminiscing about the impact Harriet had on them growing up.